Unity In Christ is Unity in Faith

      The unity of Christians is an issue that is often handled in a way that makes more for a plurality than for a true unity. I listened to a man speaking about the divisions that exist between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches. He said that they were not really divided and that once they came to see that that was the case they would stop acting like it. In one sense, this can be taken to mean that they are not divided because they are united in Christ through the one baptism which they share. This is of course as true of the Orthodox as it is of our Protestant brothers and sisters in the Lord. We have each received one and the same Spirit from Christ who is our only Lord.
     However, this man went on to say that the divisions that he was referring to were doctrinal, that is, that the Catholic and Ortohodox Churches did not actually have any doctrinal differences, that there were no real differences in what they believed. A similar claim could be made by those who say that there are no differences in the faiths of Catholics and Protestants. Oftentimes I have heard this being said in the name of unity. Some followers of Christ think, as did the man mentioned above, that there are no real differences between Christians and that differences in doctrine are merely differences in devotion, personal matters of opinion that do not actually affect our lives, the heart of our faith, or our eternal salvation.
      This is where the Eucharist can help illuminate the truth of the matter. Why did some of Christ's followers start murmuring amongst themselves and stop following Him after He had spoken about His body and blood telling everyone that it was a necessity for the life of the world? It was because, as they said "This is a hard saying. Who can accept it?" (John 6:60) Why would they not accept what Jesus was saying? What is so hard about it? Here we see a real difference in faith causing a real differences in those who were at one time followers of Christ. They stopped following Him because of His own teaching. It would be wrong to think then that differences in what we believe do not effect our lives or our souls, since this example from Christ's own life shows that the doctrinal differences that can arise in the hearts of Christian faithful are actually differences in the relationships that they have with Christ.
      A friend of mine recently told me of a conversation that he had with an Eastern Orthodox believer. When questioned about the authority of the Pope this believer said: "We do not like to have someone in authority over us." If one cannot accept the authority of the vicar that Jesus Himself appointed to represent Him as the visible head of the Church on earth, then how can one say that he accepts the authority of Christ? Is this not another instance of a difference in faith that causes a difference in one's relationship with Jesus. Why is it that the gift of faith is so important for determining the nature of one's relationship with Jesus? First of all, Jesus tells us that if we believe in Him we will have eternal life. Eternal life begins in faith and by faith we are united to Christ in a relationship, in a friendship that will last forever - since eternal life is nothing other than our union with God through Christ. Now if our faith in Christ is missing certain elements or if it has certain things added to it that depart from the truth about Jesus, His Church, His Mother, His Father, His sacraments, etc., does it not seem that there is a great risk involved? If your entire life depends upon a relationship with one person, and you are in ignorance or error about who that person really is and what they are really about, then would that not bring with it a great risk for your life!?
    Secondly, it is a great error to think that faith is our own production. Luther was right when he said that man is not saved by his own work. But in turning from the Church's teachings he ended up in a greater error. He made salvation out to be the work of faith alone - a faith that was not the work of God, but the work of man. How did he do this when he himself claims that he had done the opposite? He changed the teachings of the Church and in changing the teachings of the Church one puts himself in the unfortunate poistion of changing the teachings of Christ. For as Jesus said of his Apostles and their successors: "He who hears you, hears Me." (Luke 10:16) Faith is not ours alone, it is a participation in the knowledge of Christ himself. The light of faith gives us a share in the light of Divine Wisdom so great and so strong that it is dark to our minds. That is to say, what we know by faith, we know by the grace of God, i.e., we know as God knows. This is not to say that we know all things in exactly the same way as God knows them, but that we know things that "flesh and blood could not reveal," (Matthew 16:16-17) things that only the Heavenly Father through the Holy Spirit can present to our minds with such certainty that we would stake our entire lives on them. Faith is a grace, a participation in the eternal wisdom of God. To take lightly what we believe and do not believe is to take lightly the gift that we have received. One who makes up on his own what he believes about Christ, to that extent, He does not believe in Christ, but believes only in what he himself has thought. Salvation comes through the living faith which unites us to Christ through Christ's own knowledge and love, a gift that has been preserved throughout the ages by His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, but salvation does not come through a faith that we have invented for ourselves - no matter how convinced we are about it.           
         This is why we do apologetics. In order to ensure as much as possible that all will be brought to as deep and true of a friendship with Christ as is possible. For what could be better than for all to be united in heaven for eternity in the love of God the Father, through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, in the unity of the Holy Spirit? There is true unity possible. But it needs to be rooted and grounded in Christ's truth and love or else it is only an illusion.

Eucharistic Apologetics

A very wise woman said something to me today about the Eucharist. She was speaking about the Eucharist in relation to the communities of Christians who dispute with the Catholic Church about what the sacrament actually is and what Christ actually meant by the words "This is my body."

Here is what she had to say:

"If the Protestants are going to interpret every passage of the Bible literally, then why should they stop here and all of a sudden begin to interpret it figuratively? Furthermore, in their denial of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist in His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, they join with those who have turned away from Christ's own words since the very first time he spoke them." (See John 6:66)